As Chris Berman says, “NOBODY CIRCLES THE WAGON LIKE THE BUFFALO BILLS!!!!” Well, the Dolphins will have that opportunity to circle that wagon tommorrow night on PRIMETIME NFL NETWORK 8:20 PM EST; 4 days are getting WHIPPED by the Titans 37-3.

Last week, the Dolphins were SHREDDED LIKE A RAG DOLL at the hands of the Tennessee Titans, as the suffer their 2nd worst BEATING in their history.

They lacked DISCIPLINE and ESPECIALLY FOCUS, which caused Coach Philbin to SOMETHING OUTRAGEOUS; He benched RB Reggie Bush for VIRTUALLY the entire rest of the game, after he fumbled in the 1st quarter. That benching MADE SOME NOISE THOUGH THE MEDIA THIS WEEK, and it certainly ANNOYED NBC analyst and former Steelers’ great Rodney Harrison, who had this to say about why on The Big O Show on AM 640 in Miami:

…for the life of me, a guy that plays that hard, that puts it on the line
for you each and every week, for you to make a statement and take him out of the
game, if I’m a guy in the locker room, I’m looking at him like, ‘Coach, you’ve
got to be the biggest idiot in the country, to do something like that.’ He’s a
leader, he works hard. He’s 205 or 210 pounds, and he goes through that hole
like he’s 240 pounds.

But the quote that will cause the biggest stir, specifically in Western New York, came when Bush was reminded that his next game will be played in cold weather on Thursday night. One of the hosts joked that the women will be topless and the other one said to Reggie, “You don’t wanna see that.” And then the first host said, “No, God no.”

And then Reggie, instead of respectfully laughing or changing the subject, said, “Not Buffalo women.”

On Tannehill’s 1st interception, which was tipped, watch as Tannehill hesitates, and that hesitation allows the left defensive end to read his eyes and make a play on the ball. The tipped
pass results in a linebacker intercepting the ball and returning it for a touchdown.

Simple things—like hesitating or double-pumping the ball—can result in the split-second difference needed for a defender to make a play. This is the biggest area of concern for Tannehill and the biggest area where he needs to make improvements in a hurry.

Great assessment. That reminds me of his 1st game against the Texans, when the Texans were batting balls in the air left and right. If you folks remember, he threw 3 INT’s in his 1st ever game in the NFL.

I have said it before and I will say it again, “His maturation as a QB, has been Fantastic!!” I love how he has taken charge of this team.

Another area that he has to work on, which is highlighted in this article, is he misses most often is still in that 10 to 19-yard range, but he’s also not performing well in the zero to nine-yard
range either. A quick fix for this will come with time. Once Tannehill and his receivers are better in sync with each other, the timing of crossing and seam routes will become more crisp, and his accuracy numbers will go up on their own.

Overall, Tannehill’s accuracy hasn’t been good. Even when adjusting for the 22 drops of his wide receivers, the Dolphins quarterback is still hitting on just 72.8 percent of non-dropped
passes. That’s good for No. 18 overall in the NFL this season.

One thing that Tannehill does do well, is he plays well under pressure. Tannehill’s has 67 pass attempts under pressure. He’s completing nearly 60 percent of throws and thrown just two interceptions—both solid numbers. Take away his wide receivers’ dropped passes, and Tannehill is completing an NFL-best 84.6 percent of throws under pressure.

Tannehill’s stats: He is completing 58.9 percent of his passes (ranked 24th), and is averaging 7.1 yards per attempt (ranks 21st) on an offense that ranks 26th in total yards per game and 25th in points per game. He has a 73.2 quarterback rating heading into Thursday night’s game against
Buffalo, is falling behind his rookie peers.

Here is an interesting analysis in that same article comparing Tannehill (the new savior), and the former proclaimed savior, the much maligned QB Chad Henne through their 1st nine games as a starter. Henne led a similar Dolphins team to two more victories, threw four more touchdowns, two less interceptions and had a higher quarterback rating (78.8).

Henne’s problems surfaced around start No. 10 when defenses caught onto his strengths and weaknesses and adapted a game plan around them. Henne never countered, and never evolved as an NFL starter.

I love Tannehill’s approach to defenses: He must learn to counterpunch.

One thing that Tannehill does do well, is he plays well under pressure. Tannehill’s has 67 pass attempts under pressure. He’s completing nearly 60 percent of throws and thrown just two interceptions—both solid numbers. Take away his wide receivers’ dropped passes, and Tannehill is completing an NFL-best 84.6 percent of throws under pressure.

Tommorrow, he should face that kind of pressure from Bills’ PRIZED FREE-AGENT SIGNING, former No.1 pick DE Mario Williams. Williams signed for a lot of years and lot of zeroes. He has been hurt so what this season, but he still does have 4.5 sacks.

I REALLY ANTICIPATE Tannehill to correct those mistakes and have himself a big-game.

The Bills are 3-6, and have been SNAKE-BITEN by the injury bug. They will not have tommorrow, RB Fred Jackson who is such a PLAYMAKER for the offense. Jackson is out with a concussion. They are with DE’s Chris Kelsay (neck) and Mark Anderson (knee). http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/buf

The Bills offense is led by QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, who is ENGIMA. One game he looks like HALL-OF-FAMER Jim Kelly, and the next game he looks former Bills QB Trent Edwards, who Buffalo fans want to forget about.

His stats are not bad, but there is one in particular that is VERY ALARMING: 185-296, 2011 yards (223.4 per game), 17 TD’s, 10 INT’s; 27 carries, 121 yards, 5 fumbles (4 of them lost). He has created 14 TURNOVERS. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/buf/stats

That is a good reason why there are 3-6. 14 Turnovers!! The Dolphins’ defense should be LICKING THEIR CHOPS for opportunity to create a turnover.

The Dolphins do have to PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to the Bills other STAR RUNNINGBACK C.J. SPILLER. Spiller has burst on the scene this year, since Jackson has been hobbled by injuries. Spiller’s stats: 87 carries, 632 yards (70.2 per game), 4TD’s; 28 catches, 297 yards (33 yards per game), 341 Yards After Catch, TD.

Last week, the Dolphins’ defense was TORCHED AND SHREDDED by Chris Johnson for a tune of 223 carries, 126 yards, TD. 1st time the Dolphins defense gave up 100 yards to a runningback in over a year. That has to be fixed quickly. After this week, the Dolphins get to see SUPERSTAR RUNNINGBACKS coming up such as: Marshawn Lynch (Seattle), Steven Ridley (Patriots), and Frank Gore (49ers). Got to fix the run defense because these guys can flat out run.

My keys to the game AS ALWAYS are the SAME WEEK AFTER WEEK:
1) The 5 R’s = RUN REGGIE, RUN REGGIE RUN!! Give him the ball, and TURN HIM LOOSE!!! Bush needs a MONSTER GAME like he did in Week 2 against the Raiders. The Bills are UTTERLY PATHETIC against the run. They give up 163.7 yards a game (which ranks 32nd in the league, which is DEAD LAST!!!! http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/buf/buffalo-bills